Friendly fantasy game challenge

ABSTRACT

The present invention differs in that owners predict and rank players for each position and each player depending on the matchup have a point multiplier. This present fantasy sports system further expand the fantasy sports game play to incorporate real time moves such as live substitution and predicting play calls. Furthermore, owners may draft their fantasy team to include players of the past or retain the same fantasy team to develop players you drafted in previous fantasy league years.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to methods of and systems for playing fantasy games, and more particularly to methods and systems that include new elements to the fantasy game play.

2. Description of Related Art

A fantasy sport is a game where participants act as owners to build a team that competes against teams of other fantasy sport owners based on the statistics generated by the real individual players or teams of a professional sport. In fantasy sports there is the ability to trade, cut, and sign players like a real sports owner.

Typical/existing fantasy sports involves fantasy sport team owners drafting a team that they believe will accumulate the most positive statistics in a set of categories based on real-life statistics generated by the real players of a professional sport. An example would be in basketball, the categories are points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, etc. The league decides on the game type which is usually head-to-head or league play. In head-to-head format, an owner is matched up with another owner for a time period (usually a week) utilizing the statistics generated by the real players of the teams within the week. In league play, the statistics in each category are accumulated throughout the season and compared with the rest of the league.

The current invention introduces new game play to current existing fantasy games.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is disclosed a method of and system for increasing excitement of the fantasy game and keeping the fantasy game fresh and allowing it to flow much better than any fantasy game that is currently out on the market.

The present invention of playing a fantasy game challenge including but not limited to baseball, football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, car race, horse racing, and poker. The fantasy game challenge according to the present invention is compatible with but different from fantasy sports/games currently available in the market.

The present invention differs in that owners predict the order of players' performance for each position to earn points and depending on the matchup has a point multiplier. The present invention further expands the fantasy sports game play to incorporate real time moves such as live substitution and predicting play calls. Furthermore, owners may draft their fantasy team to include players of the past or retain the same fantasy team to develop players they drafted in previous fantasy league years.

The present invention allows owners to predict the order of players' performance for each position. In one embodiment, each player is given a point value which is set by an algorithm based on each player's performance trending statistics. A point multiplier will also be given to each player based on the play matchup. The point multiplier will affect the total points gained by the fantasy owner. The fantasy game owners will be rewarded points if their prediction is right. The fantasy game owner can get additional bonus points if the number one player or top performers of each performer (option adjustable in settings) belongs to their team. If the league agrees, the owner can predict and pick the order/rank of players in his own team and/or from both teams in play.

This present invention further expands the fantasy sports game play to incorporate digital time stamping to record real time moves such as live substitution for gaining more fantasy scores and predicting play calls. The fantasy game owners will also be awarded by correctly predicting the play call in real-life games.

Unlike other fantasy sports that are played based on the actual entire season, the fantasy game of the present invention can be played anytime for one or more single actual live sporting or game event. If a challenge is sent from one friend to another it could just sit on their phone until they are ready to respond.

The owners can draft players one by one or can use the jumble draft provided by the present method/system which would automatically pick players for the team based on the total point limits set for the team.

Furthermore, owners may draft their fantasy team to include players of the past or retain the same fantasy team/or some players to develop players they drafted in previous fantasy league years.

The more important features of the invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may better be appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the preferred feature of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention and that such other structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claim, and the accompanying drawings in which similar elements are given similar reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows the combo fantasy challenge App on a smart phone.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention that supports live substitution to score fantasy points.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention that supports prediction of play call in real-life games.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the method and system according to an embodiment of the present invention that forms a fantasy team using jumble draft.

FIG. 6 shows a concept view of a smart phone App according to an embodiment “old school fantasy” of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Typical/existing fantasy sports/games provide means allowing fantasy sports owners to form a fantasy sports league having a plurality of fantasy owners, each owning a fantasy team with one or more players, corresponding to one or more real-life player. The fantasy team owners, are allowed to trade players at the time agreed by the league. The fantasy owners compete with each other either in the head-to-head format or league format. In the head-to-head game, the fantasy team owners compete with another team owner within a time period based on statistics data generated by the fantasy players who play within that time period in real-life sports games. In the league format, the fantasy owners compare with the rest of the owners in the league for the entire season. Typically, before the season starts, the fantasy owners draft their fantasy players from the players on real sports teams based on their knowledge and statistical data about the players to form their own fantasy team. Normally, they will be allowed to trade their players before the trade deadline or drop their players so they can modify their team, getting rid of fantasy players who do not perform as expected, trade away players that provide statistics in categories the team is already strong at for players that will provide statistics in categories the team is weak at (this may benefit both parties of the trade), or who are injured, drop or trade players to free up salary cap (for salary cap leagues), and draft new fantasy players who are expected to make more contributions to the team.

The present invention is directed to a system for and method of playing fantasy games that adds new elements to the gameplay and can be accessed using Apps on smart phones, tablets or internet websites. The present invention may be a “combo fantasy challenge” which includes multiple fantasy games for users to choose. As shown in FIG. 1, the combo fantasy challenge includes but is not limited to baseball, football, basketball, NASCAR, etc. The method of and system for playing fantasy sports game according to the present invention is compatible with the fantasy sports games available in the market place but differs from the current fantasy sports games in that owners can earn points by correctly predicting the order of players' performance for each position. The fantasy owner gets rewarded for the right prediction of the positional ranking. The method/system assigns a point value to each player based on their performance trending statistics. For each game, each player will also be assigned a point multiplier depending on the matchup. In one embodiment, the method assigns a value point to each fantasy player. The numbers are easily determined based on their trending statistics. A player who has great trending statistics will receive a higher point value while a player who has poor trending statistics will receive a lower point value. If the New York Yankees are playing the Boston Red Sox the owner can break down all the positional players and assign their picks in the order of their production. Fantasy owners predict the order of production of the players in their respective positions and positionally rank them. For example, if the New York Yankees are playing the Boston Red sox, the owner may think that Teixeira will be the most productive first baseman so they assign him number 1 and Adrian Gonzalez number 2. Now if the matchup has a bigger disparity between positional players there should be a bigger bonus applied to the pick of the player whose performance trending statistics is worse. For example, if the Yankees were playing the Seattle Mariners and Teixeira was against a player like Smoak who doesn't put up anywhere close to the numbers that Teixeira does on a nightly basis, Smoak should get a bigger bonus/point multiplier if he is correctly predicted to be the number one first baseman even against a player like Texeira due to the higher risk that he won't perform as well. So when a player like Smoak who is worth 10 points playing up against a better hitting player like Teixeira, he should be assigned a bigger point multiplier. The fantasy game owners who rank Smoak as number 1 for a predetermined time period or a game when Smoak's real-life performance is ranked number one for the predetermined time period or game, the fantasy owner can get extra bonus due to the bigger point multiplier. This same concept could be used for almost all fantasy sports. In another embodiment, instead of simplifying the game so that each player is worth a certain amount of points that fluctuate due to their performance, ranking predictions can be made for each statistical category. For example in basketball, if the Orlando Magic is playing against the Philadelphia 76ers, if an owner correctly predicts that Spencer Hawes will have more blocks then Dwight Howard then he gets the matchup multiplier. A betting scheme may also be introduced. Owners can bet on the differential in statistical categories between players. Bets may be opened up to everyone. They may bet on the order of players' performance for each position and on the differential in statistical categories between players. The bets will be set based on the odds. Depending on the option chosen, the league can allow for the ranking of only the players on the owner's own team in one embodiment and/or ranking of all players in the league in another embodiment. So if an owner has a number one ranked receiver and the owner ranks him as the number one receiver for the predetermine period (e.g. a week), they should get points for the correct positional ranking and extra points for their player being number one. In other words, if their top numbered positional player scores highest the team owner can get additional scoring bonuses. This also applies to owners owning the number two player and correctly predicted their performance for the time period will be number two and so forth. If the league chose the ranking of all players in the league option then owners can pick players from the opposing team as the number one receiver and receive points for the correct positional ranking but they don't receive extra points (or additional bonus) because they don't own the number one player.

In another embodiment, the invention further expands fantasy sports game play to incorporate real time moves such as live substitution and predicting play calls. The system is capable of timestamping which means that the system will record the time at which an event occurs (timestamps) in a consistent manner along with the actual data. So the system will link live game cast, record real moves, such as live substitution of players into the active roster to score fantasy points, as well as predicting play calls. An example provided for live substitution to score fantasy points is given on football offense. If the owner envisions that a formation might yield fantasy points for 2 Tight Ends (TEs) and 3 Running Backs (RBs), the owner can put 2 TEs and 3 RBs onto their active roster for that possession and substitute them out during another play. The present invention provides means for the fantasy owners to enter substitutes in real time.

The method of the present invention also allows fantasy owners to predict play calls for real-life games. The present invention provides means for the fantasy owners to enter prediction in real time. Each correct prediction gets a bonus point multiplier. Using football as an example, the method and system will provide an interface that allows owners to choose programmable routes to call routes before each play. The most accurate prediction wins. Using baseball as an example, the method allows fantasy game player to predict the pitch and/or hit performed by the fantasy player in real-life games. Using Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights as an example, the fantasy game player may pick a fighter and predict when and how a fighter will win. For horse racing, the fantasy game player may pick a horse and predict which horse will win and what the time will be. Another example is world series of poker app. The app will allow users of the fantasy app to bet winners of each table. Different betting schemes such as money parlays may be included to increase winnings of people who advance. The fantasy sports system and method may track all predictions and include information from sporting media that provides news and analysis on players allowing owners to get updated information on players. Furthermore, allowing owners to compete with real life sports analysts.

As illustrated in the flowchart 200 depicted in FIG. 2, the method/system of the present invention provides means for fantasy owners to form a fantasy sports league which has a plurality of fantasy owners, each owning a fantasy team with one or more fantasy players corresponding to one or more real-life players (steps 201-202). It will have algorithm to determine the value points for each player according to individual player's performance trending statistics and assign point multiplier for each fantasy player based on the match up winning/losing chances. If the player's trending statistics is much worse than the opponent the player is given a higher multiplier; if the player's trending statistics is much better than the opponent the player is given a lower multiplier (steps 203-204). The system/method has an equation based on the fantasy player's point value and multiplier to calculate total points (or bonus) for the fantasy owner who picks the right player for the positional player rank/order (step 205). The method/system provides means for fantasy owners to enter their pick/rank for positional player (step 206). After the real-life game is completed, the system/method calculates fantasy points of the fantasy player according to the actual statistical performance of the real-life player within a predetermined period and determines the positional player's rank, and calculates the bonus for the correct positional ranking according to predetermined equation (steps 207-208).

The system can utilize a non limiting algorithm to achieve this process. Therein, an example of a non limiting algorithm for the trending multiplier would be as follows:

Out of 100 people 81 pick Texiera to outperform Smoak. As a result, Texiera would have a 1.9 trending multiplier whereas Smoak would have an 8.1 trending multiplier. This would allow for one to total out the fantasy points accumulated then add the multipliers to balance the playing field and reward the underdog picks who outperform the favorites.

In the cases where the multipliers would seem too high an additional divider could be added such as follows—out of 100 people 81 pick Texiera to outperform Smoak then Texiera would have a 1.9 trending multiplier whereas Smoak would have an 8.1 divided by 0.5=x (x for 1.9=0.95, x for 8.1=4.05)

In another embodiment, the method/system further comprises means allowing for fantasy owners to substitute fantasy players into active roster to score as disclosed in flowchart 300 in FIG. 3. First at step 301, the system/method provides timestamping to record the timestamps of events so the fantasy game play can incorporate real time moves; and providing means at step 302 for fantasy owners to substitute fantasy players into active roster to score fantasy points for a possession and substitute them out during another play.

In another embodiment, the method may further comprise following steps illustrated in flowchart 400 in FIG. 4 to allow the fantasy owners to predict play calls in real-life games: providing timestamping so that the fantasy game play can incorporate real time moves (step 401); providing means for the fantasy owners to enter their predicted play call (step 402); assigning a point value for correct prediction (step 403); and recording and determining whether the prediction is correct and calculating total points (step 404).

These predicting, picking, ranking, points and multipliers (extra bonus) provides a new fantasy game play. Moreover, even when a team owner has lost the game competition to other team owners he/she still has chance to win interest staying on the fantasy games because they can by predicting and ranking players belonging to other team owners and predicting the moves of each player in the leagues and get bonus for their correct prediction. The timestamping for the fantasy game play enables the fantasy owners to interact with the real-life sport games thus keeping the fantasy owners refreshed and excited.

Most fantasy sports are played based on the actual entire season. The friendly fantasy challenge of the present invention can be played daily and invite friends to play anytime for one or more single actual live sporting or game event. This fantasy game may be an app in any smart phones or web server on the internet. An invitation challenge may be sent from one friend to another and the invitation stays unexpired on their phones until the friend is ready to respond or the game have already started. In this way, friends can have social interaction with other friends when all of them are free without having the pressure that they need to follow up and track their team players' performance on a daily basis and trade them as needed throughout the entire sport season. Furthermore, this type of gameplay is suitable for single games e.g. superbowl or single elimination games e.g. games in NCAA March Madness bracket.

The method of the present invention also includes a jumble draft for the fantasy game players (owners) who are not familiar with all the players. The flow chart 500 disclosed in FIG. 5 briefly describes the steps for drafting a team using a “jumble draft” tool provided by the methods/systems. First, the method determines the point value for each fantasy player based on their real game performance trending statistics as discussed earlier at step 501. Then, the league members will decide what the total point limit for each team and how many fantasy players in each team (steps 502-503). The method automatically picks team players based on the players' point value, their roles in sports and the total points limit set for the teams (step 504). So if the league decides that each team has a 50 point limit (adjustable) the method would assign to the team owner a team with about the same number of total points and number of players. If the team owners don't like the fantasy players assigned to them, they could hit a scrambler button (there could be an adjustable time limit for the owner to change the grouping) that would assign a new team to them as many times as they like (also adjustable) until the team owner get a team with players they like (steps 504-506).

For the fantasy owners who are knowledgeable of real-game players' performance trending statistics and like to select (draft) their fantasy players to form the team, the method of the present invention allows the fantasy owner to predetermine player rankings and let a draft algorithm that provided by the present invention automatically draft the fantasy players according to the predetermined player ranking. also provides means which is similar to current fantasy sports where there is a player ranking and a pre-draft ranking that allows the fantasy owner to rank players according to their liking for the owners to prepare for the drafting.

In addition, the method add new component to rules about drafting fantasy players different from the rules of the existing fantasy sports in the market place. If it was a head to head if a player is selected the player will be taken off of the available player list so they can no longer be drafted. However, in a league of three fantasy owners, if the first person picked fantasy player Y as his first pick and so did the second fantasy owner and the third fantasy owner picked him as the second/third etc then the third owner would be awarded the pick. This would create a reverse psychology effect on the drafting rules and would allow leagues to be set up daily without coordinating a time to have to meet. The present invention has algorithm that automatically cancels out matching seeds and awards the fantasy player to the next available picker. top drafted players to the individual top drafting teams.

The method of the present invention may also allow players to be picked by multiple teams. It allows the owners the option to play with their favorite players if the league members choose to. The league can have options to decide whether the number of players per team is or is not limited to a specific number.

Sometimes, a fantasy player may no longer make contributions to the scores due to injury that happens in real game or other reasons that keep a player off the field. In existing fantasy sports, the fantasy owner would suffer from the loss. The method of the present invention allows the option of putting in a new player if there was an injury or event that keeps a player off the field. This would be an in app upgrade.

In one embodiment, the fantasy system can have an option for fantasy owners to keep a favorite team they drafted from previous seasons for years (henceforth, called legacy team) and drop players they do not want to keep and add rookies from the current fantasy draft. They may compete with only other legacy teams or may play with teams comprised of newly drafted players.

E.g. if an owner has a favorite team like the Jets he could use a fantasy draft to add rookies and after a few years of playing, the whole team could be people that he drafted as rookies and have patiently waiting for their development.

Another style of game provided by this method is the “old school fantasy game” where past players and past games can be played by fantasy owners. What year and which player can be determined/chosen in different ways. The year of career can be randomly generated/jumbled daily by the computer while the day in the league is the actual day in real life. Also, if using an iphone you can shake the phone and it will randomly generate the year or you can work with a spinning wheel on the phone screen and use your finger to spin the random wheel. In any of these feature functions, when applied, the day and year in the league can be randomly generated/jumbled daily. A fantasy owner can pick a year to start off then the selection of the next owner to pick a year is chosen randomly but evenly. Or the year may be a bonus reward given to the owner who predicted the correct order of players' performance for each position. So if an owner predicted Ruth as their number 1 pick then the fantasy system automatically chooses the best year and date of Babe Ruth's career and automatically set all players to that best year and date. There is an instant substitution option for depth chart in case people didn't play on those days in those years. FIG. 5 shows an exemplary “old school fantasy App” 600 which provides a means for jumbling a date (including year, month, and date) 601, a means for jumbling a year of the players' career 602, and means for picking players 603. This embodiment is equipped with statistical archives to determine validity. Both of these are different selected settings on how the year is chosen.

An alternate jumbler style for the old school fantasy app that would allow daily interaction by each user would be allowing each player to pick a number from one to how ever many years of the body of work you decide to play. So if you are playing with three FANTASY players and you decide to play the 10 best years of each of your chosen players (BABE RUTH, MANTLE ETC) then you would then pick a number from one to ten and if they all added up to seven then you would play year seven of those player's careers on the day of the jumbler pick. If the numbers were larger than ten then the system would take the last number.

For example if player A picked a 7, Player B picked an 8 and Player C picked a 9 then it would be A+B+C=24→7+8+9=24. So then one would take the last number of the 24 which would be the 4th year.

The method also allows a team to be made up of past players and contemporary players. The fantasy game can be played using an ongoing real-life game for the contemporary players and a selected past game for the past players. Another embodiment may be that each time when drafting a past player, the statistics for the player is from a randomly generated date and/or randomly generated year of player's career. This way, there is an uncertainty on what type of statistics the past player will provide for the owner that drafted him. Similar to how owners are uncertain how the current players on their team will perform. The system and method for the fantasy game may implement adding rosters of previous years as in game purchases.

The methods/systems of the present invention for playing fantasy games may be an App on any smart phones or provided by web server on internet.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention and not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments discussed were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are entitled. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a fantasy sport comprising: providing means for fantasy owners to form a fantasy sports league which has a plurality of fantasy owners, each owning a fantasy team with one or more fantasy players corresponding to one or more real-life players; assigning a point value for each fantasy player according to individual player's trending statistics; assigning a point multiplier for each fantasy player depending on the match up, if the player's trending statistics is much worse than the opponent the player is given higher multiplier, if the player's trending statistics is much better than the opponent the player is given lower multiplier; determining an equation for calculating a total points based on the prediction of the order of players' performance for each position; providing a means to fantasy owners for picking and ranking positional players before the real-life game commences; recording and calculating fantasy points of the fantasy player according to the actual statistical performance of the real-life player within a predetermined period and determining the positional player's rank; and calculating the total points based on the prediction of the order of players' performance for each position according to the predetermined equation.
 2. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 wherein different point multipliers are assigned for fantasy players in each statistical category depending on the match up, if the player's trending statistics in a certain statistical category is much worse than an opponent the player is given higher multiplier in that category, if the player's trending statistics is much better than an opponent in a certain statistical category, the player is given lower multiplier for that category.
 3. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1, wherein the fantasy owners can predict the order of players' performance for each position, a fantasy player from his own team or other teams, the fantasy owner gets points for making the correct prediction and extra bonus points if the fantasy player belongs to his/her team when players from other teams are also ranked.
 4. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising: providing timestamping so the fantasy game play can incorporate real time moves; and providing means for fantasy owners to substitute fantasy players into active roster to score fantasy points for a possession and substitute them out during another play. providing means for fantasy owners to substitute in players from their bench or drop and pick up available players from the waiver wire if fantasy players on their starting lineup are kept off the field due to injury or other reasons.
 5. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising: providing timestamping so the fantasy game play can incorporate real time moves; providing means for the fantasy owners to enter their predicted play call; assigning a point value for correct prediction; and recording and determining whether the prediction is correct and calculating total points.
 6. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 5 further comprising providing means for fantasy owners to substitute in players from their bench or drop and pick up available players from the waiver wire if fantasy players on their starting lineup are kept off the field due to injury or other reasons.
 7. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising providing an algorithm that automatically cancels out matching predetermined rankings by owners and awards the top drafted player to the next available fantasy owner who puts the player as the next ranking.
 8. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising providing means allowing fantasy players to be picked by multiple teams.
 9. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising providing means allowing the fantasy owners to keep a favorite team they drafted from previous seasons for years and drop players they do not want to keep and add rookies from the current fantasy draft.
 10. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising providing means where past players and past games can be played by the fantasy owners; wherein the past players and games can be selected in different ways, the past game can be selected randomly by the method/system or by the league or by fantasy owner as a bonus reward for being the closest in predicting the order of players' performance for each position.
 11. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 10 wherein the fantasy team may be made up of past players and contemporary players, the fantasy game can be played using an ongoing real-life game for the contemporary players and a selected past game for the past players.
 12. The method of playing a fantasy game of claim 1 further comprising sending invitation challenge from one friend to another and the invitation stays unexpired on their phones until they are ready to respond or the game have already started.
 13. A system for playing a fantasy game comprising: means for selecting a type of fantasy sport game; means for forming a fantasy sport league; means for selecting team fantasy players corresponding to one or more real-life players to form a fantasy team; means for assigning point multiplier for each fantasy player depending on the match up, if the player's trending statistics is much worse than the opponent the player is given higher multiplier, if the player's trending statistics is much better than the opponent the player is given lower multiplier; means for determining an equation for calculating a total points for the right pick fantasy owner picking a right rank;
 14. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 13 further comprising: means for assigning point value for each fantasy player according to individual player's trending statistics means for allowing the fantasy owners for picking and ranking positional players before the real-life game commences; means for recording and calculating fantasy points of the fantasy player according to the actual statistical performance of the real-life player within a predetermined period and determining the positional player's rank; and means for calculating the total points bonus for the right pick correct positional ranking according to the predetermined equation.
 15. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 14 further comprising: timestamping so the fantasy game play can incorporate real time moves; and means for fantasy owners to substitute fantasy players into active roster to score fantasy points for a possession and substitute them out during another play.
 16. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 15 further comprising: means for the fantasy owners to enter their predicted play call; means for assigning a point value for correct prediction; and means for recording and determining whether the prediction is correct and calculating total points.
 17. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 14 wherein past players and past games can be played by the fantasy owners, the past players and games can be selected in different ways, the past game can be selected randomly by the method/system or by the league or by the fantasy owner as a bonus reward for being the closest in predicting the order of players' performance for each position.
 18. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 17 wherein the fantasy team may be made up of past players and contemporary players, the fantasy game can be played using an ongoing real-life game for the contemporary players and a selected past game for the past players.
 19. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 14 wherein the system automatically selecting fantasy players to form a team for the fantasy owner based on a predetermined total value point limit and numbers of fantasy players, the fantasy owner has right to ask for a new team assigned to him as many times as he wants until the team owner gets a team with players he likes.
 20. The system for playing a fantasy game of claim 14 further comprising providing means for fantasy owners to substitute in players from their bench or drop and pick up available players from the waiver wire if fantasy players on their starting lineup are kept off the field due to injury or other reasons. 